Busy times for Cummins

Brendan Cummins - a hurling goalkeeper and a football centre forward - has more of a background in football than in hurling. He finds that even a short lay-off from hurling will affect his game.

"But I prefer hurling. It is very much a skill game," he says. "My home background was football and my father trains our club team. He played for Tipperary in his day so football was my first game but I took to the hurling quite easily and I really enjoy it more."

Cummins, who plays in goal for the Tipperary hurlers, figures at centre forward for the footballers and will be in action against Limerick in the preliminary round of the Munster football championship in Limerick on Sunday.

He finds the two positions completely different. "In goal you can see everything in front of you and you feel more in control. In football you don't know where the challenge is going to come from, so you have to be ready for it. In goal you have a responsibility for yourself and then for others in front of you and you have to help organise what's going on. In football it is different and although you will get a shout when something is coming from behind, it is a totally different game.

"I find that if I haven't a hurley in my hand for three or four days I am likely to lose my touch so I have to practise much more often whereas in football I can be out of training for a while and still feel comfortable when I come back."

Tipperary's purpose this year is to reach the Munster final. Limerick, Clare and Waterford stand between them and that goal. "I believe that that is a reasonable programme for us. If we can get to meet either Cork or Kerry in the Munster final I would prefer Kerry because we always play well against them and you would never know what might happen. They tend to struggle against us," he says. Yet he is not looking beyond Sunday at the moment. "Limerick can be tough opposition and they have some very good young players. Sometimes we do not play well against what people call the weaker counties and that is a worry.

"But Colm Browne has brought many new ideas to us since he took over and we are well organised and pretty fit. He has brought us another step of the way and the players are enjoying his approach. We train pretty hard and with both football and hurling I am kept going," he says.

"If we lose against Limerick it will be a disaster. Our goal is really the Munster final and I believe that we can achieve that," he says.